Donnie Smith

Donnie Smith General Information

Biography

Mr. Donnie Smith served as Chief Executive Officer & Chairman at Atlas Holdings. He served as Chief Executive Officer & Chairman at Foster Farms. He served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Director at Tyson Foods. As CEO of Tyson Foods, his enthusiasm is contagious among the company's more than 113,000 Team Members. His passion is the hallmark of his tenure, which began in 2009. Daily he guides Tyson Foods to be a company with a conscience, focused on feeding the world great, affordable food, while also making a positive difference in people's lives. Throughout his career, he has worked to learn every angle of the Tyson Foods business. He joined Tyson in 1980, working in poultry operations for seven years in Tennessee before moving to the company's headquarters in Springdale, Ark., where he started as a commodity buyer. He was named director of commodity purchasing in 1991 and over the next several years added complementary responsibilities to his management portfolio: logistics, purchasing and information systems in 2006; and engineering, food safety and quality assurance and environmental, health and safety in 2007. He moved into the company's consumer products division in 2008 and was named senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods in early 2009, the same year he was appointed president and CEO. A native of Tennessee, he graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a bachelor's degree in animal science.